It’s very hard to describe “Goodbye, Eastern Europe: An Intimate History of a Divided Land” by Jacob Mikanowski. It is part history, part travelogue, part geography, part folklore, part family history, part philosophy. Put it all together and you have a wonderful summary of a place that isn’t easy to describe, isn’t a homogenous mixture of cultures and peoples, isn’t a geographical whole. This book is rather like Eastern Europe, a collection of snippets that give you a portrait of a feeling, of a time and place. Yes, that doesn’t really make sense, but neither does the concept of Eastern Europe.

Having decided to tackle a rather large chunk of Europe over a rather large chunk of time, Mr. Mikanowski glides from place to place and century to century. We learn about the pagans who inhabited the land for ages, and how the coming of Christianity changes the culture and defined the peoples into us and them. We learn how nations emerge and disappear, how empires come and go, how friends become enemies and then friends back again. Not only are there tribes that settle into nations, we also have the travelers, Jews and Roma and others, who may or may not be welcome depending on what else is happening in the world. All of these people managed to live alongside one another for most of recorded history while maintaining their individual cultures and customs (and vampires!). In modern times these people lived through the age of empires, survived two devastating world wars, saw their countries taken over by communists, and now are facing an uncertain future as they try to determine for the first time in a while what their nations will look like.

Having finished and thoroughly enjoyed this book, I am now struggling to summarize it, or to figure out who the audience for this wonderful collection may be. Possibly anyone who is interested in history or culture, anyone who has ties to the historical people of this area, anyone who appreciates how nations and states can change but the people remain the same.

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor via NetGalley. Thank you!

The cultures of eastern Europe have long been either overborne or overlooked by their more prominent neighbors to the east and west, in writing and in fact. Mikanowski skillfully shines a light through the shadows of time, illuminating the thriving, distinctive nations that have survived generations of hardship.

This was a super interesting look into some of the fascinating history of Eastern Europe, including histories of different religious and ethnic groups, folklore, and political history. It was highly engaging and I enjoyed it immensely. I found the author's arguments about why the region is so divided/national unity is limited to be very thought-provoking. Overall the first 3 chapters were my favorites.

Thanks so much to Pantheon for the digital copy!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

This is a book declaring it’s saying goodbye to somewhere, and doing more to bring our attention to it than anything else I can remember, and thus probably going some way to keeping it alive. Hey ho. The area concerned is generally what is east of the old DDR and west of Ukraine, and the stretch from Estonia down to Albania. As that’s a large spread to cover, you’d be right in guessing the narrative has to hop from place to place. It also does so from time to time, and quite wilfully indeed from subject to subject. “Cossacks and King Kong, beet fields and biplanes” indeed – but this approach can easily alienate the reader.

I can reveal this write-up is based on the thoughts of two people, one of whom bailed out of this after a few attempts, finding the higgledy-pigglediness of it all just too much. Certainly there is some over-expenditure of effort in keeping all of these themes and subjects on the page, and in linking them - “taking heads [ie decapitation] was common on the frontier and was serious business. But it could also be funny...”. The erratic style is one that, to begin with at least, does make you wonder who this book was written for – it’s too dry and deep and oddball for the common reader such as me, and too flippant and random and oddball for the academic, it seems.

Luckily, as I predicted, things do settle down. The twentieth century was always going to be more my thing than the talk of the usurpation of European paganism, and suchlike, and seeing the eras of Stalin and what’s happened since the late 1980s revolutions through the now-expected blend of anecdote, family titbit and cribbed incident felt much more like the kind of book I wished for. But we are still constantly on the move from place to place, rounding the whole semi-continent up like the subject is the world’s worst-behaved flock of sheep.

And that is partly the point – the sliver of Europe concerned is that one (now at least) of no major empires or blocs – it is the fractured, the tempestuous and the nationalism-that-can’t-stretch-far that is making this Eastern Europe what it is in the first place. But if the book is saying this is dying, or causing Eastern Europe to die out, then it’s not doing it very well – I still believe a travel writer’s variant on this kind of theme would have made for a book the general browser could have absorbed much more successfully. Is this part of the world becoming more homogenous, and all the flavours, from borscht to pierogi to kvas and beyond, being sucked out of it? On this evidence, no. And I remain convinced this book would have been more enjoyable if it tried harder at covering it in not such a very scrappy quilt of an approach.

This one is going to be short and sweet. I admit that I normally don't get into history books that often because they feel like I'm reading an instruction manual or something of the like.
Having said that, Jacob Mikanowski has managed to do the impossible and give us a history book that has a soul. "Goodbye, Eastern Europe" does tell the history of so many small countries scattered about between some very large ones. Mind blowing to me how so many places are gone, changed, reduced etc just in our lifetimes. So yes, we get a history lesson, but more so about the people, personal and well known, it feels like there is real heart in these told stories. It also feels like a very timely and urgent read given the current Russian invasion of Ukraine.

What a fabulous read this was! Eastern Europe is most definitely the region most people don't know much about or unfortunately even think about unless like me, they are from there, This book did a wonderful job covering in palatable details the early history of the region all the way through extremely contemporary times ( see 2022 Russian aggression war against Ukraine). It's well written, researched, includes just the right amount of personal touch via author's own family history without it taking over at all. And the photo credits were fantastic as well. Another must read!

So many thanks to NetGalley and Pantheon for this ARC!

This was just brilliant. So well-written. The idea behind this book was pure genius. This part of the world is so fascinating. It's history, culture - it's ever changing boundaries. I learned so much from this work. This one will stay with me. I'd love to know how the author did the research. I highly recommend this. But please take your time with it. Each page is a treasure.

A well researched book that looks at the complicated history of a poorly understood region. I was excited to see this book come out and am grateful for the opportunity to read and review it.

Goodbye, Eastern Europe presents a fascinating look at a region with a complex history. It's highly readable, and I imagine accessible even for those with very limited interest or knowledge of Eastern European history. I love that there is a focus on identity through religion/myth/culture and the author's family history lends a very personal touch to something that otherwise could have been dry and rote.

Special thanks to Pantheon Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book through NetGalley in exchange for a review.

This was an enlightening nonfiction account about the history of eastern Europe and its peoples. Steeped in folklore and facts, this interesting and informative book captures well the challenges “countries” in eastern Europe have encountered, endured, and overcome for centuries. We call them countries, but the current lines drawn are artificial ones, many of which cleave areas that were part of one into two or more pieces. For centuries many were part of a larger whole, but over time, these countries have been part of, broken away, consolidated again, all at the whim of rulers, kings, and the powers that be. I enjoyed the folklore, stories, culture, and history presented in a smooth and delightful way. The book is packed with information and I recommend reading it over a period of time. Don’t expect to digest it all within a few days. There are a lot of fun and interesting anecdotes and facts weaned from seemingly intense research. This book is a great way to learn more about the rich history and culture of the countries of eastern Europe and to better understand their tenacity and resiliency despite and because of their challenging histories over the years. The author has done a tremendous job. This was a solid 4-star read and I definitely recommend this book. Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

An interesting history, but lacking any real through-line. Mikanowski covers a diverse range of subjects (from linguistic nationalism, to the Holocaust, to pagan Eastern European folklore -- including, of course, vampires), with a solid level of detail, but in a peripatetic style. There isn't a whole lot of apparent method in the order of things, nor does the book have any particular overall thesis. It feels like an anthology of essays on topics in Eastern European history rather than a cohesive historical work. Which is fine, as the information it contains is all pretty interesting, but it did leave me feeling a little unmoored.

“Goodbye Eastern Europe" delves deep into the historical roots of Eastern Europe, providing a comprehensive overview that spans centuries. Mikanowski devotes considerable attention to the arts, literature, folklore, and religious practices, allowing readers to grasp the essence of Eastern European identity. By examining the folklore and myths, Mikanowski elucidates the shared beliefs and legends that have permeated the region's collective consciousness. The book could have benefited from a tighter edit. A couple of chapters seem meandering and they appear to be a collection of random stories. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who's interested in the history of this region

I got an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

This book was very interesting with a great scope on Eastern European history. This was a deep dive into the history while still being approachable for those who don’t typically reach for the history genre.

However, there were significant editing issues making it distracting to read at points. The translated words were especially frustrating as a reader. Words would be written into the paragraph with no translation so the reader would either need to guess the meaning or look it up, then a few pages later the translation would be provided. This forced me to to back and reread the pages to ensure comprehension before continuing. Additionally, italics were sporadically used for translated words and the inconsistency distracted me as a reader.

An original and beautiful book. Jacob Mikanowski carefully weaves delicate and shimmering threads of surprising facts, mythology, and personal reminiscences into a stunning tapestry. As the author notes in a first sentence, Eastern Europe is a place that doesn't exist - but this strange frontier has long shaped the destinies of many people, communities, and future nations. Mikanowski has the ability to grasp what is elusive to many: „amid all our differences, Eastern Europeans share one other legacy in common, and that is a gift for seeing comedy amidst tragedy. Prolonged acquaintance with history at its most extreme has given us an extraordinary fluency in the absurd”.

The Economist recently published a list of books to read to understand modern Poland. I think that “Goodbye Eastern Europe” will be a worthy addition.

Thanks to the publisher, Pantheon Books, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

The book spike my interest because the Slavic themes are close to my heart. I'm from Poland and I love to learn about the history of my country in a way that is different from school form. I like when the facts presented are interesting and to the point. I like when there is multicultural approach and comparison with modern day state of things. Mikanowski's work has all that and more. I enjoy going into details and his personal remarks about the origin of differences and movements of boarders between so-called Easter Europe. I'm glad that Poland had its own rightful place in there but also that other, smaller, Slavic countries were mentioned.
The only thing I had a problem with was editing, because I do enjoy having actual chapters between which I can maneuver and go back if I want to for reference. Other than that, it is solid work and I recommend it to anybody who is interested in Easter European history.

This was a very engaging book! It was fascinating to see the evolution of "Eastern Europe", and what it really was meant to be. I enjoyed it.

I enjoyed this book a lot, though at times I felt the thread got lost or abruptly changed. There were also quite a few editing errors, which I understand might change before the final copy. I think the personal history was interesting and I'm glad it wasn't overdone, but it sometimes felt abrupt. All and all, though, I thought this was a fascinating read -- and very readable.

Terrific book offering a kaleidoscopic overview of Eastern Europe over the past 1,000 years. Clearly written and easily accessible, this book offers great insight into an often overlooked area if the world.

Using both regional history and pieces from his own family’s past, Jacob Mikanowski paints a detailed and wonderfully vivid picture of what Eastern Europe once was, and has become. It’s a story that reveals a region that has both spent much of its time under the thumb of various empires, but also a land of touching peripheries that was so rich in diversity that it helped give it a distinct character. It’s not quite a tale of melding and mixing - in fact, time and time again Mikanowski makes it abundantly clear that more often than not this land was a place where numerous different peoples more side-by-side than anything. Still it was a unique and fascinating heterogenous blend that, writing as an American with some roots in the region that I’ve long lost touch with, I was genuinely unaware of and absolutely loved reading about. For others with some connection to the region, or who even just has some general interest in it, then I can’t recommend “Goodbye, Eastern Europe” enough - though I’ll definitely try!